Hawk Rescue

While walking back to my home in Harlem from Columbia University in NYC yesterday, I came upon a small group of people who were staring at a bird in the middle of the sidewalk. Though they didn't know what it was, it was quickly apparent that it was a hawk, which I thought was probably a Cooper's Hawk. It was lying on the sidewalk and not looking too lively, but clearly also still breathing. They said it had just hit one of the large plate glass windows three stories up on an apartment building.

I told people that I would contact a rehab place in the city to see if they could come get the bird. Then I went home and contacted the Wild Bird Fund here in Manhattan. They told me that they are not able to come out and get birds, but they could care for it if I could bring it in. Now I was heading to a meeting in less than an hour, and the Wild Bird Fund is about 1.5 miles from where the hawk had been lying.

I decided to go back and see if the bird was still there, bringing a blanket with me in my backpack. When I arrived, the hawk had actually jumped up onto a bush and was looking more energetic, but still clearly had a broken wing.

Knowing that a New York bus driver probably would never let me onto a bus with a Hawk in a blanket (!), I considered making the 30 block walk. But first I had to actually pick up the hawk--something I've never done. While a Cooper's Hawk is not an eagle, it does have some pretty nice talons and a sharp beak. I took the blanket and tried to scoop him up in the blanket, however my first two attempts failed as he squeezed out.

Finally, a cop car was driving by and another guy helping me flagged them down. After some consideration the cops agreed to drive me to the Wild Bird Fund if I could pick up the bird. This time I placed the blanket over the bird's head, and it was much, much easier. I gathered the hawk in my arms like a little baby, climbed into the back of the police car, and we were off.

After a 10 minute drive, I walked in the Wild Bird Fund, and the awesome volunteers there quickly got the bird some fluids and vitamin K. Apparently, it is not that unsual for them to get hawks that have hit buildings....one week in January they had 5 Red-Tailed Hawks brought in over a period of 5 days!

Here are photos of the hawk's damaged talon (on left of photo) and giving him fluids:

I don't yet know the outcome of the story for this Cooper's Hawk....they said that it was bleeding from the mouth and must have had a serious impact, so I don't know whether it will make it or not. However, it felt good to be able to rescue it at least for the time being, and it definitely makes for a good story!

****Update***
Just got a call from the rehab place, and the hawk did make it through the night and is showing good signs (increasingly loud and fiesty I think :). It may not have broken its wing after all (they have yet to take x-rays), but it would have died from dehydration lying on the sidewalk she said. They will transport it to the Raptor Trust in NJ where it can recover in an large outdoor cage.

Two Rare Gulls

Typically, gulls don't get met to excited. I admit that gulls still exist in my mind as mostly confusing and less than fun to sort through. Warblers I love. Sparrows even are interesting. But gulls?

Today I got a text that a Black-Headed Gull was on the Central Park Reservoir. Since this would be a life bird I decided to hop on the subway and ride down the 15 minutes to see if I could find it.  When I approached the big body of water, I saw some birders setting up a scope, so I figured they might have it. I was happy that before they showed me where it was, I actually found the Black-Headed Gull, on the close side of what was probably 400 gulls! Actually, as gulls go, Black-Headed is really quite beautiful. Red legs and bill.

A bonus was a first year Iceland Gull--another unusual one! Only spent about 30 minutes there and got two great birds.
-Mike